Epping Forest parties quizzed ahead of election - part one

Ahead of the election, which will see competition over 22 of 58 district council wards in Epping Forest, the Guardian has interviewed representatives of several parties with candidates standing.

UKIP, the Loughton Residents Association (LRA), Labour, the Green party, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats responded to questions about key issues in the district.

• What is the most important issue in Epping Forest at the moment, and how will you address it?

UKIP: The loss of amenities that are part of Epping Forest, the green belt and of course the Royal Gunpowder Mills. The slow erosion of our historical infrastructure will leave Epping Forest looking like any other Greater London Town. We must vote sensibly at planning meetings to prevent this loss.

LRA: The most important issue is to protect the quality of life of existing residents while responding to so many external pressures.

Lab: The ideologically motivated austerity policy pursued by central government over the last six years, resulting in local councils having to find money to plug the gap in services at the same time as having their own funding from central government reduced, is resulting in vital services and facilities being lost to the people of Epping Forest. If elected, Labour councillors will work to ensure that the burden of cuts do not fall disproportionately on the most vulnerable in our district, whilst lobbying regional and national government for a change in these failed policies.

Green: The obvious aims are to protect the green belt. Epping Forest is not in good health and some of the works being carried out do not seem to be in the best interests of the forest. Some of the works look like enabling strategies for other development. The Corporation of London provide scant information on the subject and need to be called to task to protect the People’s Forest as proclaimed by Queen Victoria. They are proposing paid parking at all entrances to the forest. We need better transport links to the forest.

Con: Our number one priority is getting in place a robust local plan that works for Epping Forest. A successful local plan will allow us to support good developments and to provide a strong defence against inappropriate ones. We are well advanced in delivering the local plan our district needs, and local Conservatives are committed to making sure that Epping Forest continues to be a great place to live, work and enjoy.

Lib Dem: We need to protect what makes Epping Forest a special place to live, including our green belt and historic forest, towns and villages, while delivering the new homes local families need. Liberal Democrat councillors will get on with a public consultation about the long-delayed local plan that does not just pay lip service to residents’ views.

• How should the balance be maintained between protecting the green belt in Epping Forest and the need for new housing?

UKIP: There are brownfield sites that should be utilised. Over the longer term we need to decide if Epping is to remain a historical and horticultural Market Town or grow into a large commercial town such as Enfield. It is no use to keep building houses if there are not the schools, roads, hospitals and doctors to support them.

LRA: The green belt and the forest must be protected and other land (preferably brownfield) used to provide more housing. Urban open spaces are as important as the green belt itself.

Lab: The people of Epping Forest should see themselves as the custodians of our part of the green belt and should do all in our power to protect it for the future. At the last general election the Labour Party proposed a change in the way that housing quotas are set to move them from a local to a regional level. This would mean that areas such as Epping Forest could be given special protection and the quotas fulfilled by building in more suitable areas. However we need to deal with the situation as it is, with a national government that is no friend of the natural world and a pressing need for more housing. There is an argument for re-assessing some limited parts of the green belt within our district and weighing up if the benefits for our community outweigh the loss. This should only be done if we can be absolutely sure that any development would be appropriate and not just for the enrichment of developers or private landlords at the expense of the people of the district. We need to abandon the myth that ‘affordable housing’ is the answer and accept the need for publicly owned social housing.

Green: We all know that we need more housing but the balance could easily swing toward destruction of the green belt, so what we absolutely must do is to look at each application in the round. There is no point in building and building and building if the occupants have no access to the local amenities or to London, so the main priority there is to improve public transport and get it to reach further into Epping Forest to make outlying, existing homes accessible without recourse to cars. The first step would be to secure the existing bus routes and then to agree a deal with TfL to split any profit after the initial subsidy. This money should then be used to expand other routes and/ or open up disused station entrances as at Buckhurst Hill. Any development should meet very strict environmental criteria and they should be affordable to many not to the few. Part-buy, part-let properties are not the answer as anyone fully buying a property in such a scheme would face ridiculous and unaffordable service charges. They are an inhibitor to freedom. They actually trap people in a location that may not be suited to their longer term needs.

Con: No answer given.

Lib Dem: Liberal Democrat councillors have consistently defended the green belt on Epping Forest District Council, despite pressure from the Conservative government and local Conservative councillors to increase development in our green belt. We should look first at brownfield (previously developed sites) and ensure that new developments also provide for the vital health, education and transport needs of our area.

• What will your candidates set out to achieve in their first year if they are elected?

UKIP: It is important to learn the structure of local government and see just how it works. There are free courses for new councillors which will be utilised, so that any UKIP councillors can make the best decisions and give the best advice. UKIP councillors will listen to their local residents and support them and help them with their local concerns.

LRA: There are many issues but the most important single aspect is the successful completion of a new local plan, which will govern future developments.

Lab: Labour councillors will always strive to stand up for the most vulnerable in our communities so the focus for the first year would be on raising issues connected with deprivation, homelessness, disability, mental health and elderly care. However we are a party that seeks a fairer and more equal society and within that we recognise that the situation we have faced over the last few years across the district and the nation has affected people at all levels. Unlike some other parties we would seek to represent the whole community not just a section of it.

Green: Secure existing public transport links and seek to improve them. We are in danger of becoming like towns and villages further in Essex that have one or two services a day. This is of no use to younger people or to older residents that do not have or no longer have access to a car. This only leads to more parking dilemmas.

Con: Conservative councillors in Epping Forest always focus on serving their local community first, working hard to address the concerns of their residents. Protecting the special character of our district and keeping council tax low are key priorities.

Lib Dem: Liberal Democrat councillors will make sure residents in the areas they represent know about and can contribute to the draft local plan when it is published this autumn. They will continue to take up the problems many residents experience when dealing with the district and county councils especially over highways, parking and planning issues. They will hold the councillors who run the council to account for the way local services are delivered and will report back to residents on what they have been doing.

The second part of the interviews will be published on Bank Holiday Monday (May 2).